Running a business is not a joke. Most days, you have to juggle multiple tasks, often resulting in stress and missed deadlines.
That’s why the best-kept (open) secret of many entrepreneurs is to seek the help of a virtual assistant.
By delegating certain tasks to virtual assistants, business owners can focus more on core business functions. But how do you know which tasks to delegate – and which ones to keep to yourself?
Read on to know more.
What Is A Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant remotely provides administrative, technical, or creative assistance. In fact, most virtual assistants are based in another city or even a different country.
The Philippines, for instance, has a lot of English-speaking professionals working with Australian business owners as virtual assistants.
They help book appointments, make phone calls, manage social media accounts, and organise files, among other tasks.
Typical Tasks Delegated to Virtual Assistants
Virtual assistants are usually hired to provide:
- Administrative Support – They help manage calendars and arrange travel and accommodations.
Virtual assistants can also create presentations, spreadsheets, letters, reports, and other documents. - Technical Assistance – You can also delegate basic website management such as updating content, managing plugins, and monitoring website performance.
A virtual assistant can also help with email marketing by sending emails, managing email lists, and analysing performance. - Creative Services – There are also business owners who outsource a virtual assistant to help with transcribing audio and video recordings.
Some virtual assistants also create social media content, edit and proofread documents, and even conduct research on specific topics.
Tasks You Should NOT Hire a Virtual Assistant For
A virtual assistant is a versatile professional who can help you with a lot of tasks.
However, there are certain functions that you should not delegate. These include:
Management Decisions
This is a no-brainer.
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to make major decisions regarding the direction of your company together with your executive team.
Even if you’re just running a small business, you have to call the shots and decide whether you’re:
- Expanding your business;
- Developing a new product;
- Overhauling your operations.
However, you can delegate the following tasks to your VA:
- Research on a new business venture;
- Sound out the demand for a potential new product or service; and
- Collate the raw data and present it to you.
Tasks Beyond Their Expertise
Many virtual assistants specialise in different fields.
Thus, if you’ve hired a virtual assistant to do administrative tasks and social media management, you cannot expect them to do your accounting work as well.
Hiring a virtual assistant to take care of ALL of your business needs will be counterproductive. Instead, it’s better to let your VA:
- Handle projects within their areas of expertise and
- Take on tasks they’ve got enough experience for.
Employee Evaluation
Your virtual assistant shouldn’t take charge of employee evaluations….even if they work closely with you.
The best that they can do is:
- Compute performance evaluation grades;
- Organise employee data; and
- Research team-building activities.
Done right, having a virtual assistant helps you achieve your business goals with better efficiency and productivity.
Just like other AU entrepreneurs, you too can benefit from hiring the right virtual assistant with the help of Remote Staff.
With over 16 years of experience, Remote Staff has been successfully partnering AU SMEs with Filipino professionals, especially with virtual assistants.
Call us today or request a call back so we can get started.
Syrine is studying law while working as a content writer. When she’s not writing or studying, she engages in tutoring, events planning, and social media browsing. In 2021, she published her book, Stellar Thoughts.
